Krug Kitchen at Aveqia
Last year I visited Aveqia in Farringdon and took part in a very fun evening, making dinner whilst being supervised by very friendly and helpful Aveqia chefs.
So I was delighted to be invited back to preview The Krug Kitchen, a private cooking studio designed by Italian design studio Minotticucine and kitted out with Gaggenau’s state of the art appliances. I especially liked the wine fridge full to the brim with Krug Grande Cuvee. Of course the entire studio is overlooked by a golden K set on the background of a burgundy coloured sign.
I was there with a group of wine friends and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, cooking up a storm whilst sipping on Krug Grande Cuvee. The premise behind the Krug Kitchen is to match Krug’s champagnes with the 4 courses that we prepared. Aveqia prides itself on having a staff of Michelin starred chefs on hand and it’s certainly reflected in the quality and imagination put into each dish that we cooked up.
We started with the Krug 1998 paired with Grapefruit cured salmon with a buckthorn dressing, salted pistacios and smoked mayonnaise. I really liked the ’98 with this dish as the grapefruit really stood out and the ’98 cut right thought the fatty salmon. A pleasure to eat and drink.
The second course was one of my favourite dishes, foie gras – yum! Unfortunately, there was a very sweet verjus gelee, glazed pineapples and red grapes as garnish which in my opinion did nothing for the Krug 2000. I love the 2000, a rich and toasty wine, it was great with the foie gras by itself but was overpowered by the sweet accompaniments.
The Krug rosé is one of my favourite rosés because it is so delicate yet full of intense flavours. I’m always happy to see it when it makes an appearance. It’s even better when you drink it with a meal and the roasted guinea fowl, vasterbotten cheese croquettes and morels were hearty but not too much for the rosé. Krug doesn’t make much rosé so we were lucky to be served that alongside the main course.
Despite the fact that we’d been quaffing the Krug Grande Cuvee earlier in the evening, it made another appearance with dessert of champagne sabayon, lemon and ginger curd, granny smith apple sorbet and a hazelnut crumble. Sublime! The dessert was salty sweet, very umami-ish and the KGC floated underneath it all, the nutty notes of the champagne standing out but also being able to clear my palate for the next mouthful.
A gorgeous venue for gorgeous but tasty food and of course, the divine champagnes of Krug. The Krug Kitchen is available for private parties. Contact Aveqia for more information.